When the Utah Jazz released their “city” jerseys, they knew the new uniforms would be controversial. The team’s vice president of marketing Bart Sharp told Andy Larsen of KSL.com that Utah “expected the design of the uniform to be very polarizing.”
The sunset-esque ombré jerseys, which begin yellow at the top and incrementally fade into red, are certainly unique. They’re also rare and expensive:
Re: Jazz City Jerseys—
The response has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen as they became the fastest selling Jazz jersey in history.
We have a limited quantity arriving at the @jazzteamstore before the end of the season and are hustling to get even more from Nike.
— Steve Starks (@StevenStarks) March 7, 2018
As Larsen points out, the secondary market for these jerseys is alive and thriving:
The jerseys, which typically retail for $130, have been sold on eBay for $425 and up. Hats are listed for $55, and there’s one of the popular city edition hoodies being sold now for $205.
Larsen explains why the supply was so low:
The Jazz originally made an order for about 700 jerseys, but about half of those had Gordon Hayward’s name on them. When a player changes teams in free agency, Nike automatically cancels the portion of the jersey orders that feature the old player name.
Still, the Jazz thought 300 would be enough. “When we go back and look at sales history of any alternate jerseys we’ve ever had, we’ve never really sold more than 300 units of an alternate jersey in an entire season,” former Fanzz president and current Jazz consultant Darren Squires said. The team was shocked to sell all of them in just a few days, out of the arena team store.
According to Larsen, Utah will be getting “about 50” more of these jerseys before the end of the season. After that, a larger shipment is expected but not guaranteed.
